


Behind the Door

by Thunderrrstruck



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Children, Comfort, Gen, Hugs, Kids, Minor Original Character(s), Post-Psych 2: Lassie Come Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck
Summary: TAKES PLACE POST-PSYCH 2: LASSIE COME HOME!!You have been warned.Lily sees nothing but the door at the end of the hall, and all the while, she just wants to hug her dad. Something inside her tells her that that is exactly what he needs.
Relationships: Carlton Lassiter & Lily Nora Lassiter, Carlton Lassiter/Marlowe Viccellio
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Behind the Door

**Author's Note:**

> brain, hollow. heart, filled with love for the psych cast, aching for Lassie, happy for Guster, yearning for Shules, in love with Karen Vick, kinda miffed at Henry tbh. I need six more movies with these amazing people.  
> -  
> hi, I spent all my caffeinated tea jitters this morning writing this and only proofread once bc, like I said, tea jitters and also I'm still very much high from the movie. enjoy! :)

The door to the study stood closed. As it had yesterday, as it had the day before that, and as it had all the days before that since Daddy’s return.

Lily desperately wanted to burst through the door, but Mommy said no. Mommy said he needed time and space, so reluctantly, she turned around and trudged back to the living room to resume her play, less enthusiasm than just five minutes before.

The door to the study would only open in the morning, in time for dinner, and in the evening. Lily Nora, although just six years old, understood the pattern within the first few days of its occurrence and adjusted herself in accordance with it. She played at the end of the hall instead of the living room so she’d have a clear view of inside whenever it opened. Hard it was to only see her dad around mealtimes. Who knew what happened in the meantime? Her little heart beat faster every time she saw or heard the door shut, the hope and fear inside her racing for dominance.

Maybe he’d be okay, maybe he wouldn’t; she wouldn’t have a conclusive answer until seven p.m. That was when Mommy set up the dinner table with a stretched smile.

A week since his return, the door to the study was still firmly shut, and Lily’s toys were losing their intrigue. Her eyes, blue like her father’s, casted down the hallway. Rising to her feet, she abandoned her play and padded along the polished, wood floors, a conduit of a new level of intensity: a Viccellio-Lassiter brand.

As she reached the door, her footsteps came slower. Her eyes rounded into quarters, as she contemplated the outside of the knob, brass and smooth, decorated around the rim. If she was aware of how her actions could be perceived as a stalling tactic, her young blood was only aware of the one track already circling her head:

 _Daddy_.

She twisted the knob and stumbled in when the door gave sooner than she’d imagined.

“Daddy?”

The man in question stared hard at the desk, head propped up with one arm, the other one in a sling, blue eyes unblinking. There was a prominent crease in his forehead, and Lily could only mirror it as she wondered ' _why_ '.

Carlton jerked his head to the door, and when his gaze locked with his daughter’s, her veins froze. With a tiny flicker of his lips, however, Lily’s fear began to ebb away.

“Are you okay?” she asked, still a little jittery.

“Fine, Lily,” answered the man with surprise. Despite the rasp, there were notes of warmth riddling his tone, just like in his smile.

Lily rushed forward and began to clamber upon his lap. The chair rolled backwards until it pressed against the wall, providing the six-year-old the stability she needed to complete her quest.

Once she was securely attached to her father, arms wrapped around his torso, she asked, “Why don’t you come out of this room?”

Carlton’s good hand lowered to rest on Lily’s head, his fingers slowly, lovingly sifting through her hair. His other arm might not be able to do much, still, as of that moment, but it could certainly provide enough support so his daughter would not spill to the ground.

Lily felt a breath rattle inside his chest for a while.

“Daddy’s.. scared,” he finally said. She heard it in the air and felt it resonate in his body in tandem.

“Why?”

“What?” he frowned.

“Why are you scared?” Lily ducked her head. Being six meant she was bordering the point in her life when she’d be deemed too big for sitting on her parents lap. But being six also meant she never wanted to grow up, never wanted to face a world without her parents a hug away. A door was too much of an obstacle between them. “I’m not scary.”

Her words were met with a small chuckle. “No, you’re not.”

Lily felt herself being pulled closer. She opened her eyes and lifted her head. There was his smile, as wide as before the scare, and there were his glittering blue eyes (little did she know, it was because of in held tears).

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, Lily Nora.”

) ) ) ( ( (

Marlowe searched high and low for her daughter. Once she saw the abandoned toys at the end of the hallway, she shook her head and set her mission aside for a moment to stoop down and pick them up. She went into the girls' room, hoping that when she dropped off the toys on Lily's bed that she'd find Lily herself. (Maybe she would also remind her to pick up after herself before steering her girls to the kitchen for lunch.) But inside, there was no Lily.

Marlowe took their youngest, Adri, by the hand and sat her down in the high chair before her mission came back to mind.

A light at the end of the hall caught her attention, and she turned her attention towards the study's open door. _Lily must have snuck her way in_ , she sighed, hoping Carlton wasn't too shaken by the disturbance. Despite what he said and what he wanted, she worried about him. How could she not? That man had been through so much and suffered the consequences when he deserved so much better. (And, in truth, she wasn't sure just how to provide the perfect compromise between what he and what she needed.

Space was good, she decided.)

Marlowe made her way to the end of the hall. Gently placing a hand on the doorframe, she leaned around the corner into the room. The sight of father and daughter put a smile to her face, and all thought of maintaining a healthy distance for Carlton's healing flew out the back of her mind.

"You two alright back here?" she asked.

When the pair of them looked up in tandem, a flood of euphoria five times brighter than the sun on their wedding day coursed through her.

"Look at you two," she melted. "Of course, you are!"

 _Space may be good_ , she thought, _but if love can be provided, then love is better_.

“Lunch is ready,” Marlowe beckoned with a thumb over her shoulder. “I expect to see both of you there.”


End file.
